Sunday, October 20, 2013

#135 October 20, 2013- Battles in Politics and Education

Getting
Ready for the

Next
Battle. . .

With the end of the recent
standoff in Washington D.C., many around the nation breathed a sigh
of relief and moved on.In fact, this is
exactly what those responsible for giving us the recent crisis would like to
have happen.The most extreme members of
Congress and their supporters don't want the public to remember their words and
deeds over the past couple of weeks.Instead, they hope that the ACA will fail miserably and that the public
will focus attention on that, not their own divisive, inequitable and
unsustainable policies and beliefs.

What exactly did the
extreme conservative faction of the Republican Party do that should cause all
citizens to be concerned?They changed
the rules of House to limit the ability of members of Congress to call for a
vote on the shutdown.This limitation of
power extended to all members of Congress except for a select few.They took our nation to the brink of the
economic unknown.They further divided a
nation that is already struggling to find reasonable ways to resolve our
differences.That they did all this for
what really appears to be a combination of political vindictiveness and short
sighted political gains makes it all the more problematic.

What was made crystal
clear during the recent conflict in D.C., and what should be obvious to anyone
living in a battleground state like Wisconsin,
is that this recent defeat for the radical members of the GOP isn't the end of
their efforts to undermine our system of government.In many ways the defeat will only fuel the
fire of the most extreme members of this faction.The most terrifying side to this is that, instead
of admitting defeat and trying to make our system work for the majority, these
radicals will return to their demographically isolated enclaves and create
schemes to destabilize our democracy.

Wisconsin is gearing up for our next political
struggle.The next election will help
determine what direction our state will move in, as well as be a benchmark for
the nation.We are already seeing
significant interest on a national level in the upcoming race for governor and
Congress.Wisconsin's Congressional delegation was
divided along party lines in voting to end the shutdown.In 2014 we have a chance to make a real
change in current political trends.

Wisconsinites also have an
opportunity to determine what kind of society we want to live in.Too often politics and elections offer
relatively similar candidates with ideologies that are too similar to really provide
significant choices.The argument that a
moderate Democrat and a moderate Republican are virtually the same candidate
isn't too far off the mark.Yet, the
current brand of Republican candidate pushes the debate far to the right.The strategies, philosophy and policies that
these candidates support put an emphasis on money and power, while pushing
quality of life and opportunity for all out of the debate.

We will see and hear lots
of claims that the conservative agenda here in Wisconsin
has improved our state's economic outlook, its political functioning, and made Wisconsin a better place
overall.However, there is another side
to the "facts" and figures that the Republican Party of Wisconsin
will either ignore or attempt to hide.

An example of this is the
ongoing debate over tax relief and the efforts of the GOP to help the middle
class.They have framed the debate so
that it appears that there will be some relief for taxpayers, and created a
situation where a vote against their proposal will appear to be a vote for
higher taxes.Yet, the property tax
relief that is proposed is more beneficial for wealthy residents and large
scale property owners.Ignored in the
debate is the potential increase in property taxes due to an inequitable school
funding formula and cuts in state aid to public schools.School districts across Wisconsin face the potential need to
increase their tax levies to meet the needs of students.This provides fodder for more attacks on our
public schools and the high cost of educating our students, when the reality is
that the state isn't meeting its Constitutional obligations regarding public
education.

Reform has become a
controversial and often despised word for public educators.We face a continuing onslaught of
"reforms" that come from outside our schools, are promoted by "experts"
with few real educational credentials, and that do little to help the students
who need the most support.

These "reforms"
change the way we teach and impact the daily experiences that our students have
in schools.Testing, interventions, core
instruction and a constant pressure to implement new curricula so that students
are "rigorously" challenged to develop new skills, all have a
significant impact on our students and our schools.Educators are told that every minute of every
day must be applied to activities that will produce measurable results.Too often ignoring that we may not be able to
measure the most valuable skills students learn, or that 9 year olds are not
factory employees.Note #2 on the
following list.

We spend so much time
collecting data and evaluating our practices based on measurable statistics
that we ignore the humanity that is the children we are educating.School Improvement Plans in the Madison schools are reduced
to improving student's test scores, ignoring school climate and student
engagement.Students lose opportunities
to study science, social studies and the arts so that they can receive extra
instruction in literacy and math.Yet,
this extra instruction doesn't seem to impact their achievement, and reduces
their love of learning.Specialists like
school social workers, psychologists, bi-lingual educators and others are taken
away from students to help with assessments.The monster of data that has been created is quickly devouring students
and schools.

The phrase stating that
there are, "Lies, damned lies, and
statistics" applies directly to education in today's America.Statistics are thrown around in discussions
about our schools, but they are often misleading and frequently self
serving.

We even see our need for
data impact national foreign policy as we seek evidence that deaths of
innocents caused by drones may, or may not increase the allure of terrorist
organizations.This debate ignores the
reality that killing citizens of other countries shouldn't be acceptable
whether it fuels terrorism or not.

Reform shouldn't be a
"bad" word for educators.In
fact, we need reform now, more than ever.The divide between the "haves" and the "have nots"
in our society is widening.The gaps
that exist in income, social status and political influence are mirrored in our
schools.Our society is becoming more
segregated and less equitable as these gaps widen.

Our public schools could
be a vehicle to address the inequities in our society and potentially provide
the "tools" necessary to make significant, positive change.Yet, we are mired in a constant struggle to
simply maintain what we currently have.We engage in debates over details, but don't impact the larger
picture.We are creating an educational
climate that will only increase the gaps that exist.Students from poverty, students from
different cultures and students with exceptional needs have been failing in our
system, and they will continue to fail unless we act to make real change
happen.

These efforts to resist
"reform" are often portrayed in one of two ways by
"reformers".One view is that
fighting school reform is part of a series of radical, liberal attempts to
indoctrinate the youth of America
into Socialist ways of thinking.Schools
are Liberal hotbeds of educators plotting to overthrow all that is
"good" in America.The second view is that the resistance to
"reform" represents the efforts of educators and their unions to hold
on to the status quo that fills their pockets and fuels their political
efforts.By forcing educators who
disagree with testing, standardization of curriculum and other
"reforms" into one of these two camps education "reformers"
can portray them as radicals and out of touch with what the public wants for
education.

Too many educators simply
give in to the demands that are placed on us.The loss of union protections and collective bargaining agreements
weakens our ability to resist.The vast
scope of the attacks leaves us frustrated and without the time and energy
necessary to resist.We face public
opinion that has been shaped by the fallacies and misleading statistics from
those who seek to "reform" our schools.We receive policies shaped by leaders who
don't live and work in the same schools that we do.They see numbers and we see families and
students.

We do need to reform our
schools in some ways.However, the
reforms that we need are not the ones that we are currently implementing.Those "reforms" come from people
who are outside the system, and who far too often don't even send their
children to the schools they create policy for.Those "reforms" are driven by business and economic interests
and don't provide opportunity for all students to access the skills that are
needed to be successful entrepreneurs, scientists and leaders.

Instead of going along
with the current "reform" movement in education, educators, public
and private, need to make a stand for their students, their families and their
profession.We are professionals and we
work on a daily basis with our students.We need to make connections with our families, our community and those
in policy making positions to insure that all voices are heard.We need to unite and support each other in our
efforts to meet the real needs of our students, not the needs of business and
lobbyists.

This is a national debate,
but one that plays out in the personal lives of millions of children in our
nation.It is a debate that we must win.All students deserve an educational
experience that is enriching, engaging and that opens the doors to a brighter
future.